Scenes from the 5th Annual Cookie Takedown

The Fifth Annual Cookie Takedown was in full swing on Sunday at the Bell House in Gowanus. The event organizer, Matt Timms of Chili Takedown fame, was full of energy and excitement as usual. "There are no rules, so there's gonna be some crazy choices," he said before the tasters got down to munching. At Matt's takedowns (which in the past have revolved around bacon, tofu, fondue, and more) there are "never professionals."

The offerings were creative indeed. Among the participating treats were Banana Bread Re-Snicker-Cycle Doodles, a Snickers bar, snickerdoodle, and banana bread combo cookie. There was also the Frankencookie, a brownie sandwiched between peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, and the Miso Awesome, which packed white chocolate chips, white miso, wasabi peas, tamari, and almonds.

Paige McCurdy-Flynn from Cookie Fairy Sweets, Kenneth Grande from Leske's Bakery, and Seth Unger from the Food Film Festival acted as judges. Unger wore an elf suit to the event, and claimed to have been recently fired from Keebler for being too tall. The crowd also voted, and the prizes, Cuisinart mixers, went to the People's Choice winners, although Grande did make a surprise announcement of an award for the judges' first place winner: Leske's would start selling the cookie at their bakery. Proceeds from the event went to a foundation Timms's sister started, the Women's Education Project.